Spring Undergraduate Research Forum

The Spring Undergraduate Research Forum (SURF) 2018 will be held on Tuesday, April 24. An integral part of CELEBRATE!, an annual, weeklong celebration of student achievements in academics and the arts, Elon's SURF program showcases student research and provides students the opportunity to present their research to a faculty and student audience. Student projects presented at SURF collaborations with mentors as part of faculty scholarship or course-based work through which students are introduced firsthand to the scholarly enterprise as participating contributors.

SURF also showcases faculty research and includes a morning faculty poster session.

The SURF submission process

SURF abstracts must be submitted pre-reviewed. So, we ask mentors and students to work together to identify two faculty members with content expertise to review your abstract prior to submission. The process should utilize the following guidelines:

1) The student and mentor draft an abstract for submission to SURF
2) The student and mentor collaboratively identify two faculty with content expertise to serve as reviewers
3) The student forwards the abstract to the reviewers (please be mindful of the submission date and review time)
4) The student receives their abstract back from the reviewers with comments and makes appropriate changes in consultation with their mentor
5) Once the mentor approves the abstract then the student may submit it to SURF

It is essential that the abstract be well-written and in language understandable by representatives of any discipline across campus. Discipline-specific jargon should be avoided, and if necessary should be clearly defined. The abstract must provide clear evidence that the student has undertaken a project that involves research at a level beyond the normal classroom experience.

Submitting to SURF

The SURF 2018 abstract submission deadline is March 2, 2018. The submission site will open in 2018.

Presenting at SURF

You must submit an abstract to present at SURF. Use the abstract guidelines below to help you prepare your submission (the guidelines also include sample abstracts). Email your abstract to SURF@elon.edu by the deadline.